On my way back from a hike at Carry Falls reservoir, the sun setting against the overcast skies were too good to pass up.

Khyber's Slide on Upper Wolfjaw Mountain. Hunting early season ice with Dan Plumley and Loren Swears. The pitches run up to WI3 grade ice.

As the fog cleared from the lower elevations, it left behind a layer of frost on the trees. I like to imagine it was snow. 

Just a quick hike up Cranberry Lake's Bear Mountain. Temps were in the 30's, and not another soul around. I always enjoy the first snow hike of the season.

Right across from Upstate Medical Center just outside Saranac Lake

Took a great afternoon hike up Owl's Head, a small peak near Groton State Forest, while visiting family over in Vermont this weekend. There was still about a foot of snow on the ground, but spring was in full gear, with a sky full of high wispy cirrus clouds and 60 degree weather. Beautiful!

Warm weather, 72 Fahrenheit at our house, was followed by a couple inches of rain. Then it cooled. The unseasonable weather created a veneer of hard crust and depleted the snowpack by roughly two feet. The conditions were ideal for a visit to the gorge. Veteran Alan Wechsler was on board to go hunt some ice. We watched the forecast during the week preceding March 10; predicted temperatures for the weekend dropped daily and, with wind-chill, settled at about -40 at the elevation where the climbs are located. We moved the climb to Friday so we’d be racing the oncoming cold weather.

The Feline Wall, about ¼ mile into Panther Gorge on Mt. Marcy, sometimes hosts a thin ice smear down its center line. It seems reliable in that it forms every year. The caveat is that it is thickest at the top where the water feeding it seeps from the krummholz. Sun heats the dark underlying stone and often delaminates the bottom portion. Whether it is bonded to the anorthosite when one visits, is a persistent wildcard.

I saw the sun coming up and the contrast with the dark pending rain clouds and bright orange sun made me run outside down our long driveway to capture this dramatic sunrise.